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BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


JPTJBLISIIEID     B"5Z-    OZRIDEIR,    OF    THE 

UNION    REPUBLICAN    STATE    CENTRAL    COMMITTEE 

OF     CALIFORNIA. 


SPEECH 


SENATOR  MORTON,  OF  INDIANA, 


ON    RECONSTRUCTION, 


UNITED   STATES    SENATE 


FRIDAY,    JAN.    34th,    1868. 


TO   WHICH  ABB   APPENDED, 

RESOLUTIONS  ADOPTED  BY  THE  UNION  REPUBLICAN  STATE  CONVENTION 

HELD  AT  SACRAMENTO,  MARCH  Slffp,  1868. 


SAN    FRANCISCO:. 
TOWNE  &  BACON,  BOOK  AND  JOB  PRINTERS,  EXCELSIOR  OFFICE, 

No.  536  Clay  Street,  just  below  Montgomery. 
1868. 


RECONSTRUCTION. 


MR.  PRESIDENT  :  If  I  had  not  been  referred  toby 
my  honorable  friend  from  Wisconsin  (Mr.  Dooattle) 
in  the  debate  yesterday  I  should  not  desire  to  speak 
on  this  question,  especially  at  this  time.  I  fear  that 
I  shall  not  have  the  strength  to  say  what  I  wish  to. 
The  issue  here  to-day  is  the  same  which  prevails 
throughout  the  country,  which  will  be  the  issue  of 
this  canvas?,  and  perhaps  for  years  to  come.  To 
repeat  what  I  have  had  occasion  to  say  elsewhere,  it 
is  between  two  paramount  ideas,  each  struggling  for 
the  supremacy.  One  is,  that  the  war  to  suppress  the 
Rebellion  was  right  and  just  on  our  part ;  that  the 
Rebels  forfeited  their  civil  and  political  rights,  and 
can  only  be  restored  to  them  upon  such  conditions 
as  the.  nation  may  prescribe  for  its  future  safety  and 
prosperity.  The  other  idea  is,  that  the  Rebellion 
was  not  sinful,  but  was  ri<rht ;  that  those  engaged  in 
it  forfeited  no  rights,  civil  or  political,  and  have  a 
right  to  take  charge  of  their  State  Governments,  and 
be  restored  to  their  representation  in  Congress,  just 
as  if  there  had  been  no  Rebellion  and  nothing  had 
occurred.  The  immediate  issue  before  the  Senate 
now  is  between  the  existing  State  Governments 
established  under  the  policy  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States  in  the  Rebel  States  ;  and  the  plan  of 
reconstruction  presented  by  Congress.  When  a 
surveyor  first  enters  a  new  territory,  he  endeavors 
to  ascertain  the  exact  latitude  and  longitude  of  a 
given  spot,  and  from  that  can  safely  begin  his  sur- 
vey ;  and  so  I  will  endeavor  to  ascertain  a  proposi- 
tion in  this  debate  upon  which  both  parties  are 
agreed,  and  start  from  that  proposition.  That 
proposition  is,  that  at  the  end  of  the  war,  in  the 
spring  of  1865,  the  Rebel  States  were  without  State 
governments  of  any  kind.  The  loyal  State  govern- 
ments existing  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  had  been 
overturned  by  the  Rebels  ;  the  Rebel  State  govern- 
ments erected  during  the  war  had  been  overturned 
by  our  armies,  and  at  the  end  of  the  war  there  were 
no  governments  of  any  kind  existing  in  those 


States.  This  fact  was  recognized  distinctly  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States  iu  his  proclamation 
under  which  the  work  of  reconstruction  was  com- 
menced in  North  Carolina  in  1865,  to  which  I  beg 
leave  to  refer.  The  others  were  mere  copies  of  this 
proclamation.  In  that  proclamation  he  says  : 

"  And  whereas  the  rebellion  which  has  been  waged  by 
a  portion  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  against  the 
properly  constituted  authorities  of  the  Government  there- 
of, in  the  moat  violent  and  revolting  form,  but  whose 
organized  and  armed  forces  have  now  been  almost 
entirely  overcome,  has  in  its  revolutionary  progress  de- 
prived the  people  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina  of  all 
civil  government." 

Here  the  President  must  be  allowed  to  speak  for 
his  party,  and  I  shall  accept  this  as  a  proposition 
agreed  upon  on  both  sides :  that  at  the  end  of  the 
war  there  were  no  governments  of  any  kind  existing 
in  these  States.  The  fourth  section  of  the  fourth 
article  of  the  Constitution  declares  that  "  the  United 
States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this  Union 
a  republican  form  of  government."  This  provision 
contains  a  vast,  undefined  power  that  bas  never  yet 
been  ascertained — a  great  supervisory  power  given 
to  the  United  States  to  enable  them  to  keep  the 
States  in  their  orbits,  to  preserve  them  from  anarchy, 
revolution  and  rebellion.  The  measure  of  power 
thus  conferred  upon  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  can  only  be  determined  by  that  which  is 
requisite  to  guarantee  or  maintain  in  each  State  a 
legal  and  republican  form  of  government.  What- 
ever power,  therefore,  may  be  necessary  to  enable 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  thus  to  main- 
tain in  each  State  a  republican  form  of  government 
is  conveyed  by  this  provision.  Now,  Mr.  President, 
when  the  war  ended  and  these  States  were  found 
without  governments  of  any  kind,  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  United  States,  under  this  provision  of  the  Con- 
stitution, at  once  attached  ;  the  power  to  reorganize 
State  Governments,  to  use  the  common  word,  to 
reconstruct,  to  maintain  and  guarantee  republican 


Senator  Morton  on  Reconstruction. 


State  governments  in  those  States,  at  once  attached 
under  this  provision.  Upon  this  proposition  there 
is  also  a  concurrence  of  the  two  parties.  The  Presi- 
dent has  distinctly  recognized  the  application  of 
this  clause  of  the  Constitution.  He  has  recognized 
the  fact  that  its  jurisdiction  attached  when  those 
States  were  found  without  republican  State  govern- 
ments, and  he  himself  claimed  to  act  under  this 
clause  of  the  Constitution.  I  will  read  the  preamble 
of  the  President's  Proclamation  : 

"  Whereat,  The  fourth  section  of  the  fourth  article  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  declares  that  the 
United  States  .shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  the 
Union  a  repuhlican  form  of  government,  and  shall  pro- 
tec^  each  of  them  against  invasion  and  domestic  violence  ; 
and,  whereas,  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  by 
the  Constitution  made  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army 
and  Navy,  as  well  as  chief  civil  executive  officer  of  the 
United  States,  and  is  bound  by  solemn  oath  faithfully  to 
execute  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
to  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed ;  and, 
whereas,  the  Rebellion  which  has  been  waged  by  a  por- 
tion of  the  people  of  the  United  States  against  the  prop- 
erly constituted  authorities  of  the  Government  thereof 
in  the  most  violent  and  revolting  form,  but  whose  organ- 
ized and  armed  forces  have  now  been  almost  entirely 
overcome,  has,  in  its  revolutionary  progress,  deprived  the 
people  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina  of  all  civil  gov- 
ernment ;  and,  whereas,  it  becomes  necessary  and  proper 
to  carry  out  and  enforce  the  obligations  of  the  United 
States  to  the  people  of  North  Carolina  in  securing  them 
in  the  enjoyment  of  a  republican  form  of  government." 

*  I  read  this,  Mr.  President,  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  that  the  President  of  the  United  States,  in 
his  policy  of  reconstruction,  started  out  with  a  dis- 
tinct recognition  of  the  applicability  of  this  clause 
of  the  Constitution,  and  that  he  based  his  system  of 
reconstruction  upon  it.  It  is  true  he  recites  in  this 
proclamation  that  he  is  the  Commander-in-Chief  of 
the  Army  of  the  United  States  ;  but  at  the  same 
time  he  puts  his  plan  of  reconstruction,  not  upon 
the  exercise  of  the  military  power  which  is  called  to 
its  aid,  but  on  the  execution  of  the  guarantee  pro- 
vided by  the  clause  of  the  Constitution  to  which  I 
have  referred.  He  appoints  a  Governor  for  North 
Carolina  and  for  these  other  States,  the  office  being 
civil  in  its  character,  but  military  in  its  effects. 
This  Governor  has  all  the  power  of  one  of  the  dis- 
trict commanders,  and,  in  fact,  far  greater  power 
that  was  conferred  upon  Gen.  Pope  or  Gen.  Sheri- 
dan, or  any  general  in  command  of  a  district ;  for 
it  is  further  provided  : 

That  the  Military  Commander  of  the  Department,  and 
all  officers  and  persons  in  the  military  and  naval  service* 
aid  and  assist  the  said  Provisional  Governor  in  carrying 
into  effect  this  proclamation. 

We  are  then  agreed  upon  the  second  proposition, 


that  the  power  of  the  United  States  to  reconstruct 
and  guarantee  republican  forms  of  government  at 
once  applied  when  these  States  were  found  in  the 
condition  in  which  they  were  left  at  the  end  of 
the  war.  Then,  Sir,  being  agreed  upon  these  two 
propositions,  we  are  brought  to  the  question  as  to 
the  proper  form  of  exercising  this  power,  and  by 
whom  it  shall  be  exercised.  The  Constitution  says 
that  "  the  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every 
State  in  this  Union  a  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment." By  the  phrase  "  United  States "  here  is 
xnaant  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  The 
United  States  can  only  act  through  the  Govern- 
ment, and  the  clause  would  mean  precisely  the  same 
thing  if  it  read,  "  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this  Union 
a  republican  form  of  government."  Then,  as  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  is  to  execute  this 
guaranty,  the  question  arises,  what  constitutes  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  ?  The  President 
does  not  constitute  the  Government ;  the  Congress 
does  not  constitute  the  Government ;  the  Judiciary 
does  not  constitute  the  Government ;  but  all  three 
together  constitute  the  Government ;  and  as  this 
guarantee  is  to  be  executed  by  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  it  follows  necessarily  that  it 
must  be  a  legislative  act.  The  President  could  not 
assume  to  execute  the  guarantee  without  assuming 
that  he  was  the  United  States  within  the  meaning 
of  that  provision — without  assuming  that  he  was 
the  Government  of  the  United  States.  Congress 
could  not  of  itself  assume  to  execute  the  guarantee 
without  assuming  that  it  was  the  Government  of 
the  United  States ;  nor  could  the  Judiciary  with- 
out a  like  assumption.  The  act  must  be  the  act 
of  the  Government,  and  therefore  it  must  be  a  leg- 
islative act,  a  law  passed  by  Congress,  submitted  to 
the  President  for  his  approval,  and  perhaps,  in  a 
proper  case,  subject  to  be  reviewed  by  the  Judiciary. 
Mr.  President,  that  this  is  necessarily  the  case  from 
the  simple  reading  of  the  Constitution,  seems  to  me 
cannot  be  for  a  moment  denied.  The  President,  in 
assuming  to  execute  this  guarantee  himself,  is  as- 
suming to  be  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
which  he  clearly  is  not,  but  only  one  of  its  coordi- 
nate branches;  and  therefore,  as  this  guarantee 
must  be  a  legislative  act,  it  follows  that  the  attempt 
on  the  part  of  the  President  to  execute  the  guar- 
antee was  without  authority,  and  that  the  guarantee 
can  only  be  executed  in  the  form  of  a  law,  first  to 
be  passed  by  Congress  and  then  to  be  submitted  to 
the  President  for  his  approval,  and  if  he  does  not 
approve  it  then  to  be  passed  over  his  head  by  a 
majority  of  two-thirds  in  each  House.  That  law, 


Senator  Morton  on  Reconstruction. 


5 


then,  becomes  the  execution  of  the  guarantee  and  is 
the  act  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 
Mr.  President,  this  is  not  an  open  question.  I 
send  to  the  Secretary  and  ask  him  to  read  a  part  of 
the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  in  the  case  of  Luther  vs.  Borden,  as  re- 
ported in  7  Howard.  The  Secretary  read  as  fol- 
lows : 

Moreover,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  as 
far  as  it  has  provided  for  an  emergency  of  this  kind,  and 
authorized  the  General  Government  to  interfere  in  the 
domestic  concerns  of  a  State,  has  treated  the  subject  as 
political  in  its  nature,  and  placed  the  power  in  the  hands 
of  that  Department. 

The  fourth  section  of  the  fourth  article  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  provides  that  the  United 
States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  a  republican  form 
of  government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them  against  in- 
vasions ;  and  upon  application  of  the  Legislature,  or  of 
the  Executive,  (wheu  the  Legislature  cannot  be  con- 
vened) against  domestic  violence. 

Under  this  article  of  the  Constitution  it  rests  with  Con- 
gress to  decide  what  government  is  the  established  one 
in  a  State.  For  as  the  United  States  guarantees  to  each 
State  a  republican  government,  Congress  must  necessari- 
ly decide  what  government  is  established  in  the  State 
before  it  can  determine  whether  it  is  republican  or  not. 
And  when  the  Senators  and  Representatives  of  a  State 
are  admitted  into  the  council  of  the  Union,  the  authority 
of  the  government  under  which  hey  are  appointed,  as 
•well  as  its  republican  character,  is  recognized  by  the 
proper  constitutional  authority.  And  its  decision  is  bind- 
ing upon  every  other  department  of  the  Government,  and 
could  not  be  questioned  in  judicial  tribunal.  It  is  true 
that  the  contest  in  this  case  did  not  last  long  enough  to 
bring  the  matter  to  this  issue ;  and  as  no  Senators  or  Rep- 
resentatives were  elected  under  the  authority  of  the 
government  of  which  Mr.  Dorr  was  the  head,  Congress 
was  not  called  upon  to  decide  'the  controversy.  Yet  the 
right  to  decide  is  placed  there,  and  not  in  the  Courts. 

Mr.  MORTON — In  this  opinion  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  delivered  many  years 
ago,  the  right  to  execute  the  guarantee  provided  for 
in  this  clause  of  the  Constitution  is  placed  in  Con- 
gress, and  nowhere  else ;  and  therefore  the  necessary 
reading  of  the  Constitution  is  confirmed  by  the 
highest  judicial  authority  which  we  have. 

Mr.  JOHNSON — Do  you  read  from  the  opinion 
delivered  by  the  Chief  Justice  ? 

Mr.  MORTON — Yes,  sir  ;  the  opinion  delivered  by 
Chief  Justice  Tauey.  He  decides  that  this  power 
is  not  judicial ;  that  it  is  one  of  the  high  powers 
conferred  upon  Congress  ;  that  it  is  not  subject  to 
be  reviewed  by  the  Supreme  Court,  because  it  is 
political  in  its  nature.  It  is  a  distinct  enunciation 
of  the  doctrine  that  this  guarantee  is  not  to  be  exe- 
cuted by  the  President  or  by  the  Supreme  Court, 
but  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  in  the 


form  of  a  law  to  be  passed  by  that  body,  and  to  be 
submitted  to  the  President  for  his  approval ;  and 
should  he  disapprove  it,  it  may  become  a  law  by 
being  passed  by  a  two-thirds  majority  over  his  head. 
Now  I  will  call  the  attention  of  my  friend  from 
Wisconsin  to  some  other  authority.  As  he  has  been 
pleased  to  refer  to  a  former  speech  of  mine  to  show 
that  I  am  not  quite  consistent,  I  will  refer  to  a  vote 
given  by  him  in  1864  on  a  very  important  provision. 
On  the  1st  of  July,  1864,  the  Senate  having  under 
consideration,  as  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  "  a 
bill  to  guarantee  to  certain  States  whose  govern- 
ments have  been  usurped  or  overthrown,  a  repub- 
lican form  of  government,"  Mr.  Brown,  of  Missouri, 
offered  an  amendment  to  strike  out  all  of  the  bill 
after  the  enacting  clause,  and  to  insert  a  substitute, 
which  I  will  ask  the  Secretary  to  read.  The  Secre- 
tary read  as  follows : 

"  That  when  the  inhabitants  of  any  State  have  been 
declared  iu  a  state  of  insurrection  against  the  United 
States  by  proclamation  of  the  President,  by  force  and 
virtue  of  the  Act  entitled  '  An  Act  further  to  provide  for 
the  collection  of  duties  on  imports,  and  for  other  pur- 
poses,' approved  July  13th,  1861,  they  shall  be,  and  are 
hereby  declared  to  be,  incapable  of  casting  any  vote  for 
electors  of  President  or  Vice  President  of  the  United 
States,  or  of  electing  Senators  or  Representatives  iu  Con- 
gress, until  said.insurrection  in  said  State  is  suppressed  or 
abandoned,  and  said  inhabitants  have  returned  to  their 
obedience  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and 
until  such  return  to  obedience  shall  be  declared  by  proc- 
lamation of  the  President,  issued  by  virtue  of  an  Act  of 
Congress  hereafter  to  be  passed,  authorizing  the  same." 

Mr.  MORTON — The  honorable  Senator  from  Wis- 
consin voted  for  that  in  Committee  of  the  Whole 
and  on  its  final  passage.  I  call  attention  to  the  con- 
clusion of  the  amendment,  which  declares  that  they 
shall  be — 

"  Incapable  of  casting  any  vote  for  electors  of  Presi- 
dent or  Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  or  of  electing 
Senators  or  Representatives  iu  Congress,  until  said  insur- 
rection in  said  State  is  suppressed  or  abandoned,  and  said 
inhabitants  have  returned  to  their  obedience  to  tbe  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  and  until  such  return  and 
obedience  shall  be  declared  by  proclamation  of  the  Presi- 
dent, issued  by  virtue  of  an  Act  of  Congress  hereafter 
to  be  passed,  authorizing  the  same." 

Recognizing  that  a  state  of  war  shall  be  regarded 
as  continuing  until  it  shall  be  declared  no  longer  to 
exist  by  the  President,  in  virtue  of.  an  Act  of  Con- 
gress to  be  hereafter  passed.  I  am  glad  to  find  by 
looking  at  the  vote  that  the  distinguished  Senator 
from  Maryland  (Mr.  Johnson)  voted  for  this  propo- 
sition, and  thus  recognized  the  doctrine  for  which  I 
am  now  contending ;  that  the  power  to  execute  the 
guarantee  is  vested  in  Congress  alone,  and  that  it  is 
for  Congress  alone  to  determine  the  status  and  con- 


6 


Senator  Morton  on  Reconstruction. 


dition  of  those  States,  and  that  the  President  has  no 
power  to  proclaim  peace  or  to  declare  the  political 
condition  of  those  States  until  he  shall  first  have 
been  thereunto  authorized  by  an  Act  of  Congress. 
I  therefore,  Mr.  President,  take  the  proposition  as 
conclusively  established,  both  by  reason  and  author- 
ity, that  this  clause  of  the  Constitution  can  be 
executed  only  by  Congress ;  and  taking  that  as 
established,  I  now  proceed  to  consider  what  are  the 
powers  of  Congress  in  the  execution  of  the  guar- 
antee, how  it  shall  be  executed,  and  what  means  may 
be  employed  for  that  purpose.  The  Constitution 
does  not  define  the  means.  It  does  not  say  how  the 
guarantee  shall  be  executed.  All  that  is  left  to  the 
determination  of  Congress.  As  to  the  particular 
character  of  the  means  that  must  be  employed,  that, 
I  take  it,  will  depend  upon  the  peculiar  circumstances 
of  each  case ;  and  the  extent  of  the  power  will 
depend  upon  the  other  question  as  to  what  may  be 
required  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  or  guaran- 
teeing a  loyal  republican  form  of  government  in 
each  State.  I  use  the  word  "  loyal,"  although  it  is 
not  used  in  the  Constitution,  because  loyalty  is  an 
inhering  qualification  not  only  in  regard  to  persons 
who  are  to  fill  public  offices,  but  in  regard  to  State 
governments,  and  we  have  no  right  to  recognize  a 
State  government  that  is  not  loyal  to  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States.  Now,  Sir,  as  to  the 
use  of  means  that  are  not  prescribed  in  the  Consti- 
tution, I  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  the 
eighteenth  clause  of  section  eight  of  the  first  article 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which 
declares  that — 

"  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  make  all  laws 
which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into 
execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  powers 
vested  by  this  Constitution  in  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  or  any  department  or  officer  thereof." 

Here  is  a  declaration  of  what  would  otherwise 
be  a  general  principle  anyhow,  that  Congress  shall 
have  the  power  to  pass  all  laws  necessary  to  carry 
into  execution  all  powers  that  are  vested  in  the 
Government  undtr  the  Constitution.  As  Congress 
has  the  power  to  guarantee  or  maintain  a  loyal  re- 
publican government  in  each  State,  it  has  the  right 
to  use  whatever  means  may  be  necessary  for  that 
purpose.  As  I  bffore  remarked,  the  character  of 
the  means  will  depend  upon  the  character  of  the 
case.  In  one  case  it  may  be  the  use  of  an  army  ; 
in  another  case  perhaps  it  may  be  simply  presenting 
a  question  to  the  courts,  and  having  it  tested  in 
that  way ;  in  another  case  it  may  go  to  the  very 
foundation  of  the  Government  itself.  And  I  now 
propound  this  proposition :  that  if  Congress,  after 


deliberation,  after  long  and  bloody  experience,  shall 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  loyal  republican  State 
governments  cannot  be  erected  and  maintained  in 
the  Kebel  States  upon  the  basis  of  the  white  pop- 
ulation, it  has  a  right  to  raise  up  and  make  voters 
of  a  class  of  men  who  had  no  right  to  vote  under 
the  State  laws.  This  is  simply  the  use  of  the  neces- 
sary means  in  the  execution  of  the  guarantee.  If 
we  have  found  after  repeated  trials  that  loyal  repub- 
lican State  governments,  governments  that  shall  an- 
swer the  purpose  that  such  governments  are  intended 
to  answer,  cannot  be  successfully  founded  upon  the 
basis  of  the  white  population,  because  the  great 
majority  of  that  population  are  disloyal,  then  Con- 
gress has  a  right  to  raise  up  a  new  loyal  voting  pop- 
ulation for  the  purpose  of  establishing  those  govern- 
ments iu  the  execution  of  the  guarantee.  I  think, 
Sir,  this  proposition  is  so  clear  that  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  elaborate  it.  We  are  not  required  to  find 
in  the  Constitution  a  particular  grant  of  power  for 
this  purpose,  but  we  find  a  general  grant  of  power, 
and  we  find  also  another  grant  of  power  authorizing 
us  to  use  whatever  means  may  be  necessary  to  exe- 
cute the  first ;  and  we  find  that  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  has  said  that  the  judgment  of 
Congress  upon  this  question  shall  be  conclusive — 
that  it  cannot  be  reviewed  by  the  Courts — that  it  is 
a  purely  political  matter  ;  and  therefore  the  determ- 
ination of  Congress,  that  raising  up  colored  men 
to  the  right  of  suffrage  is  a  means  necessary  to  the 
execution  of  that  power,  is  a  determination  which 
cannot  be  reviewed  by  the  Courts,  and  is  conclu- 
sive upon  the  people  of  this  country.  The  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  assuming  that  he  had 
the  power  to  execute  this  guarantee,  and  basing  his 
proclamation  upon  it,  went  forward  in  the  work  of 
reconstruction.  It  was  understood  at  that  time — it 
was  so  announced,  if  not  by  himself,  at  least  form- 
ally by  the  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Seward— that 
the  governments  which  he  would  erect  during  the 
vacation  of  Congress,  were,  to  be  erected  as  provis- 
ional only ;  that  his  plan  of  reconstruction  and  the 
work  that  was  to  be  done  under  it,  would  be  submit- 
ted to  Congress  for  its  approval  or  disapproval  at 
the  next  session.  If  the  President  had  adhered  to 
that  determination  I  believe  that  all  would  have 
been  well,  and  that  the  present  state  of  things  would 
not  exist.  But,  Sir,  the  Executive  undertook  finally 
to  execute  the  guarantee  himself  without  the  coop- 
eration of  Congress.  He  appointed  provisional 
governors,  giving  to  them  unlimited  power  until  such 
time  as  the  new  State  governments  should  be 
erected.  He  prescribed  in  his  proclamation  who 
should  exercise  the  right  of  suffrage  in  the  election 


Senator  Morton  on  Reconstruction. 


of  delegates.      And  allow  me  for  one  moment  to 
refer  to  that.     He  says  in  his  proclamation  : 

"  No  person  shall  be  qualified  as  an  elector,  or  shall  be 
eligible  as  a  member  of  such  convention,  unless  he  shall 
have  previously  taken  and  subscribed  the  oath  of  am- 
nesty, as  set  forth  in  the  President's  proclamation  of  May 
29th,  A.D.,  1865."— 

which  was  issued  on  the  same  day  and  was  a  part  of 
the  same  transaction — 

"  And  is  a  voter  qualified  as  prescribed  by  the  Consti- 
tution and  laws  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina  in  force 
immediately  before  the  20th  day  of  May,  A.D.  1861." 

The  persons  having  the  right  to  vote  must  have 
the  right  to  vote  by  the  laws  of  the  State,  and  must, 
in  addition  to  that,  have  taken  the  oath  of  amnesty. 
The  President  disfranchised  in  voting  for  delegates 
to  the  conventions  from  250,000  to  300,000  men. 
His  disfranchisement  was  far  greater  than  that 
which  has  been  done  by  Congress.  In  the  procla- 
mation of  amnesty  he  says : 

"  The  following  classes  of  persons  are  excepted  from 
the  benefits  of  the  proclamation  " — 

He  then  announces  fourteen  classes  of  persons — 
"  1.  All  who  are  or  shall  have  been  pretended  civil  or 
diplomatic   officers,   or  otherwise    domestic    or  foreign 
agents  of  the  pretended  Confederate  Government." 

"  13.  All  persons  who  have  voluntarily  participated  in 
said  rebellion,  and  the  estimated  value  of  whose  taxable 
property  is  over  $20,000." 

And  twelve  other  classes,  estimated  to  number  at 
the  least  250,000  or  300,000  men,  while  the  distran- 
chisement  that  has  been  created  by  Congress  does 
not  extend  perhaps  to  more  than  45,000  or  50,000 
persons  at  the  furthest.  These  provisional  gover- 
nors, under  the  authority  of  the  President,  were  to 
call  conventions ;  they  were  to  hold  the  elections, 
and  they  were  to  count  the  votes ;  they  were  to  ex- 
ercise all  the  powers  that  are  being  exercised  by  the 
military  commanders  under  the  Reconstruction  Acts 
of  Congress.  After  those  constitutions  were  formed 
the  President  went  forward  and  accepted  them  as 
being  loyal  and  republican  in  their  character.  He  au- 
thorized the  voters  under  them  to  proceed  to  elect 
Legislatures,  members  of  Congress,  and  the  Legis- 
latures to  elect  Senators  to  take  their  seats  in  this 
body.  In  other  words,  the  President  launched  those 
State  governments  into  full  life  and  activity  without 
consultation  with  or  cooperation  on  the  part  of 
Congress.  Now,  sir,  when  it  is  claimed  that  these 
governments  are  legal,  let  it  be  remembered  that 
they  took  their  origin  under  a  proceeding  instituted 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  the  execu- 
tion of  this  guarantee,  when  it  now  stands  confessed 
that  he  could  not  execute  the  guarantee.  But  even 


if  he  had  the  power,  let  it  be  further  borne  in  mind 
that  those  constitutions  were  formed  by  conventions 
that  were  elected  by  less  than  one-third  of  the 
white  voters  in  the  States  at  that  time ;  that  the 
conventions  were  elected  by  a  small  minority  even 
of  the  white  voters,  and  that  those  constitutions  thus 
formed  by  a  very  small  minority  have  never  been 
submitted  to  the  people  of  those  States  for  ratifica- 
tion. They  are  no  more  the  constitutions  of  those 
States  to-day  than  the  constitutions  formed  by  the 
conventions  now  in  session  would  be  if  we  were  to 
proclaim  them  to  be  the  constitutions  of  those 
States  without  first  having  submitted  them  to  the 
people  for  ratification.  How  can  it  be  pretended 
for  a  moment,  even  admitting  that  the  President 
had  the  power  to  start  forward  in  the  work  of  re- 
construction, that  those  State  Governments  are  legal, 
formed  by  a  small  minority,  never  ratified  by  the 
people,  the  people  never  having  had  a  chance  to 
vote  for  them  ?  They  stand  as  mere  arbitrary  con- 
stitutions, established  not  by  the  people  of  the  sev- 
eral States,  but  simply  by  force  of  executive  power. 
And,  sir,  if  we  shall  admit  those  States  to  repre- 
sentation on  this  floor  and  in  the  other  House  under 
those  constitutions  when  the  thing  shall  have  got 
beyond  our  keeping  and  they  are  fully  restored  to 
their  political  rights,  they  will  then  rise  up  and  de- 
clare that  those  constitutions,  are  not  binding  upon 
them,  that  they  never  made  them ;  and  they  will 
throw  them  off,  and  with  them  will  go  those  provis- 
ions which  were  incorporated  therein,  declaring  that 
Slavery  should  never  be  restored  and  that  their  war 
debt  was  repudiated.  Those  provisions  were  put 
into  those  constitutions,  but  they  have  never  been 
sanctioned  by  the  people  of  those  States,  and  they 
will  cast  them  out  as  not  being  their  act  and  deed 
as  soon  as  they  shall  have  been  restored  to  political 
power  in  this  Government.  Therefore  I  say  that 
even  if  we  concede  that  the  President  had  the 
power,  which  he  had  not,  to  start  forward  in  the  ex- 
ecution of  this  guarantee,  there  can  still  be  no  pre- 
tense that  those  governments  are  legal  and  author- 
ized, and  that  we  are  bound  to  recognize  them.  The 
President  of  the  United  States,  in  his  proclamation, 
delared  that  those  governments  were  to  be  formed 
only  by  the  loyal  people  of  those  States ;  and  I  beg 
leave  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  that 
clause  in  his  proclamation  of  reconstruction.  He 
says: 

"And  with  authority  to  exercise,  within  the  limits  of 
said  State,  all  the  powers  necessary  and  proper  to  enable 
such  loyal  people  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina  to  restore 
said  State  to  its  constitutional  relation  with  the  Federal 
Government." 

Again,  speaking  of  the  army: 


Senator  Morton  on  Reconstruction. 


"  And  they  are  enjoined  to  abstain  from  in  any  way 
hindering,  impeding,  or  discouraging  the  loyal  people 
from  the  organization  of  a  State  government  as  herein 
authorized." 

Now,  Sir,  so  far  from  those  State  governments 
having   been  organized  by  the  loyal  people,  they 
were  organized  by  the  disloyal ;  every  office  passed 
into  the  hands  of  a  Rebel ;  the  Union  men  had  no 
part  or  lot  in  those  governments,  and  so  far  from 
answering  the  purpose  for  which  governments  are 
intended,  they  failed  to  extend  protection  to  the 
loyal  men,  either  white  or  black.    The  loyal  men 
were  murdered  with  impunity,  and  I  will  thank  any 
Senator  upon  this  floor  to  point  to  a  single  case  in  any 
of  the  Rebel  States  where  a  Rebel  has  been  tried 
and  brought  to  punishment  by  the  civil  authority 
for  the  murder  of  a  Union  man.     Not  one  case,  I 
am  told,  can  be  found.    Those  governments  utterly 
failed  in  answering  the  purpose  of  civil  governments ; 
and  not  only  that,  but  they  returned  the  colored 
people  to  a  condition  of  quasi  slavery  ;   they  made 
them  the  slaves  of  society,  instead  of  being,  as  they 
.  were  before,  the  slaves  of  individuals.    Under  various 
forms  of  vagrant  laws,  they  deprived  them  of  the 
rights  of  freemen,  and  placed  them  under  the  power 
and  control  of  their  Rebel  masters,  who  were  filled 
with  hatred  and  revenge.    But,  Mr.  President,  time 
passed  on.     Congress  assembled  in  December,  1865. 
For  a  time  it  paused.    It  did  not  at  once  annul  those 
governmepts.    It  hesitated.    At  last,  in  1866,  the 
Constitutional  Amendment — the  14th  Article — was 
brought  forward  as  a  basis  of  settlement  and  recon- 
struction;   and   there  was  a  tacit  understanding, 
though  it  was  not  embraced  in  any  law  or  resolu- 
tion, that  if  the  Southern  people  should  ratify  and 
agree  to  that  amendment,  then  their  State  govern- 
ments would  be  accepted.    But  that  amendment  was 
rejected — contemptuously  rejected.    The  Southern 
people,  counseled  and  inspired  by  the  Democracy  of 
the  North,  rejected  that  amendment.    They  were 
told  that  they  were  not  bound  to  submit  to  any  con- 
ditions whatever ;  they  had  forfeited  no  rights  by 
rebellion.    Why,  Sir,  what  did  we  propose  by  this 
amendment  ?     By  the  first  section  we  declared  that 
all  men  born  upon  our  soil  were  citizens  of  the 
United  States — a  thing  that  had  long  been  recog- 
nized by  every  department  of  this  Government  until 
the  Dred  Scott  decision  was  made  in  1857.    The 
second  section  provided  that  where  a  class  or  race 
of  men  were  excluded  from  the  right  of  suffrage, 
they  should  not  be  counted  in  the  base  of  represent- 
ation— an  obvious  justice  that  no  reasonable  man  for 
a  moment  could  deny ;   that  if  4,000,000  people 
down  South  were  to  have  no  suffrage,  the  men  living 


in  their  midst  and  surrounding  them,  and  depriving 
them  of  all  political  rights,  should  not  have  members 
of  Congress  on  their  account.    I  say  the  justice  of 
the  second  clause  has  never  been  successfully  im- 
pugned by  any  argument,  I  care  not  how  ingenious 
it  may  be.     What  was  the  third  clause  ?    It  was 
that  the  leaders  of  the  South,  those  men  who  had 
once  taken  an  official  oath  to  support  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  and  had  afterward  com- 
mitted perjury  by  going  into  the  rebellion,  should 
be  made  ineligible  to  any  office  under  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  or  of  a  State.    It  was  a 
very  small  disfranchisement.    It  was   intended   to 
withhold  power  from  those  leaders  by  whose  instru- 
mentality we  had  lost  nearly  half  a  million  lives  and 
untold  treasure.    The  justice  of  that  disfranchise- 
ment could  not  be  disproved.    And  what  was  the 
fourth  clause  of  the  amendment?    That  this  Gov- 
ernment should  never  assume  and  pay  any  part  of 
the  Rebel  debt ;  that  it  should  never  pay  the  Rebels 
for  their  slaves.    This  was  bitterly  opposed  in  the 
North  as  well  as  in  the  South.    How  could  any 
man  oppose  that  amendment  unless  he  was  in  favor 
of  this  Government  assuming  a  portion  or  all  of  the 
Rebel  debt,  and  in  favor  of  paying  the  Rebels  for 
their  slaves  ?    When  the  Democratic  party  North 
and  South  opposed  that  most  important  and  perhaps 
hereafter  to  be  regarded  as  vital  amendment,  they 
were  committing  themselves  in  principle,  as  they  had 
been  before  by  declaration,  to  the  doctrine  that  this 
Government  was  bound  to  pay  for  the  slaves,  and 
that  it  was  just  and  right  that  we  should  assume  and 
pay  the  Rebel  debt.    This  amendment,  as  I  have 
before  said,  was  rejected,  and  when  Congress  assem- 
bled in  December,  1866,  they  were  confronted  by 
the  fact  that  every  proposition  of  compromise  had 
been  rejected ;  every  half-way  measure  had  been 
spurned   by  the  Rebels  themselves,  and   they  had 
nothing  left  to  do  but  to  begin  the  work  of  recon- 
struction themselves  ;  and  in  February,  1867,  Con- 
gress for  the  first  time  entered  upon  the  execution 
of  the  guarantee  provided  for  in  the  Constitution 
by  the  passage  of  the  first  reconstruction  law.    A 
supplementary  bill  was  found  necessary  in  March, 
another  one  in  July,  and  I  believe  another  is  found 
necessary  at  this  time  ;  but  the  power  is  with  Con- 
gress.    Whatever  it  shall  deem  necessary,  whether 
it  be  in  the  way  of  colored  suffrage,  whether  it  be 
n  the  way  of  military  power — whatever  Congress 
shall  daem  necessary  in  the  execution  of  this  guaran- 
tee is  conclusive  upon  the  courts,  upon  every  State, 
and  upon  the  people  of  this  nation.     Sir,  when  Con- 
gress entered  upon  this  work,  it  had  become  apparent 
to  all  men  that  loyal  republican  State  governments 


Senator  Morion  on  Reconstruction. 


could  not  be  erected  and  maintained  upon  the  basis 
of   the    white   population.    We  had  tried  them. 
Congress  had  attempted  the  work  of  reconstruction 
through   the  constitutional  amendment  by  leaving 
the  suffrage  with  the  white  men,  and  by  leaving  with 
the  white  people  of  the  South  the  question  as  to 
when  the  colored  people  should  exercise  the  right  of 
suffrage,  if  ever ;  but  when  it  was  found  that  those 
white  men  were  as  rebellious  as  ever,  that  they  hated 
this  Government  more  bitterly  than  ever  ;  when  it 
was  found  that  they  persecuted  the  loyal  men,  both 
white  and  black,  in  their  midst ;  when  it  was  found 
that  northern  men  who  had  gone  down  there  were 
driven  out  by  social  tyranny,  by  a  thousand  annoy- 
ances, by  the  insecurity  of  life  and  property,  then  it 
became  apparent  to  all  men  of  intelligence  that 
reconstruction  could  not  take  place  upon  the  basis 
of  the  white  population,  and  something  else  must  be 
done.    Now,  Sir,  what  was  there  left  to  do  ?    Either 
we  must  hold  these  people  continually  by  military 
power,  or  we  must  use  such  machinery  upon  such  a 
new  basis  as  would  enable  loyal  republican  State 
governments  to  be  raised  up  ;  and  in  the  last  resort 
— and  I  will  say  Congress  waited  long,  the  nation 
waited  long,  experience  had  to  come  to  the  rescue 
of  reason   before  the  thing  was  done — in  the  last 
resort,  and  as  the  last  thing  to  be  done,  Congress 
determined   to  dig  through   all  the  rubbish,  dig 
through  the  soil  and  the  shifting  sands,  and  go  down 
to  the  eternal  rock,  and  there,  upon  the  basis  of  the 
everlasting  principle  of  equal  and  exact  justice  to 
all  men,  we  have  planted  the  column  of  reconstruc- 
tion ;  and,  Sir,  it  will  arise '  slowly  but  surely,  and 
"  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it." 
Whatever  dangers  we  apprehend  from  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  right  of  suffrage  of  700,000  men,  just 
emerged  from  Slavery,  were  put  aside  in  the  presence 
of  a  greater  danger.   Why,  Sir,  let  me  say  frankly  to 
my  friend  from  Wisconsin,  that  I  approach  universal 
colored  suffrage  in    the   South  reluctantly.    Not 
because  I  adhere  to  the  miserable  dogma  that  this 
was  the  white  man's  Government,  but  because  I 
entertain  fears  about  at  once  intrusting  a  large  body 
of  men  just  from  slavery,  to  whom  education  had 
been  denied  by  law,  to  whom  the  marriage  relation 
had  been  denied,  who  had  been  made  the  basest  and 
most  abject  slaves,  with  political  power.    And  as 
the  Senator  has  referred  to  a  speech  which  I  made 
in  Indiana  in  1 865,  allow  me  to  show  the  principle 
that  then  actuated  me,  for  in  that  speech  I  said  : 

"  In  regard  to  the  question  of  admitting  the  freedmen 
of  the  Sontbern  States  to  vote,  while  I  admit  the  equal 
rights  of  all  men,  and  that  in  time  all  men  will  have  the 
right  to  vote  without  distinction  of  color  or  race,  I  yet 


believe  that  in  the  case  of  4,000,000  o  slaves  juet  freed 
from  bondage  there  should  be  a  period  of  probation  and 
preparation  before  they  are  brought  to  the  exercise  of 
political  power. 

Such  was  my  feeling  at  that  time,  for  it  had  not 
then  been  determined,  by  the  bloody  experience  of 
the  last  two  years,  that  we  could  not  reconstruct 
upon  the  basis  of  the  white  population,  and  such 
was  the  opinion  of  the  great  majority  of  the  people 
of  the   North  ;  and  it  was  not  until  a  year  and  a 
half  after  that  time  that  Congress  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  there  was  no  way  left  but  to  resort  to 
colored  suffrage,  and  suffrage  to  all  men  except  those 
who  were  disqualified  by  the  commission  of  high 
crimes  and  misdemeanors.    Mr.  President,  we  hear 
much  said  in  the  course  of  this  debate,  and  through 
the  press,  about  the  violation  of  the  Constitution. 
It  is  said  that  in  the  Eeconstruction  measures  of 
Congress  we  have  gone  outside  of  the  Constitution, 
and  the  remark  of  some  distinguished  statesman  of 
the  Republican  party  is  quoted  to  that  effect.    Sir, 
if  any  leading  Republican  has  ever  said  so,  he  spoke 
only  for  himself,  and  not  for  another.    I  deny  the 
statement  in  Mo.    I  insist  that  these  Reconstruction 
measures  are  as  fully  within  the  powers  of  the  Con- 
stitution as  any  legislation  that  can  be  had,  not  only 
by  reason  but  by  authority.    And  who  are  the  men 
that  are  talking  so  much  about  the  violation  of  the 
Constitution,  and  who  pretend  to  be  the  especial 
friends  of  that  instrument  ?    The  great  mass  of  thenv 
only  three  years  ago  were  in  arms  to  oveturn  the 
Constitution  and  establish  that  of  Montgomery  in  its 
place,  or  were  their  Northern  friends,  who  were  aid- 
ing and  sympathizing  in  that  undertaking.     I  had 
occasion  the  other  day  to  speak  of  what  is  described 
as  a  Constitutional  Union  man — a  man  living  inside 
of  the  Federal  lines  during  the  war,  sympathizing 
with  the  Rebellion,  and  who  endeavored  to  aid  the 
Rebellion  by  insisting  that  every  war  measure  for 
the  purpose  of  suppressing  it  was  a  violation  of  the 
Constitution   of  the  United   States.    Now,  these 
men  who  claim  to  be  the  especial  friends  of  the 
Constitution,  are  the  men  who  sought  to  destroy  it 
by  force  of  arms,  and  those  throughout  the  country 
who  have  given  them  aid  and  comfort.    Sir,  you 
will  remember  that  once  a  celebrated  French  woman 
was  being  dragged  to  the  scaffold,  and  as  she  passed 
the  statute  of  Liberty,  she  exclaimed  :  "  How  many 
crimes  have  been  committed  in  thy  name !"  and  I 
can  say  to  the   Constitution,  "  how   many  crimes 
against  liberty,  humanity,  and  progress,  are  being 
committed  in  thy  name  by  these  men  who,  while  they 
oved  not  the  Constitution  and  sought  ita  destrac- 
.ion,  now,  for  party  purposes,  claim  to  be  ita  espec- 


10 


Senator  Morton  on  Reconstruction. 


ial  friends !  My  friend  from  Wisconsin  yesterday 
compared  what  he  called  the  Radical  party  of  the 
North  to  the  Radicals  of  the  South,  and  when  he 
was  asked  the  question  by  some  Senator  "  who  are 
the  Radicals  of  the  South  ?"  he  said :  "  they  are 
the  Secessionists."  Sir,  the  Secessionists  of  the 
South  are  Democrats  to-day,  acting  in  harmony  and 
concert  with  the  Democratic  party.  They  were 
Democrats  during  the  war,  who  prayed  for  the  suc- 
cess of  McClellan  and  Pendleton,  and  who  would 
have  been  glad  to  vote  for  them.  They  were  Demo- 
crats during  the  war,  men  who  sympathized  with  the 
Rebellion,  who  aided  in  bringing  it  on.  These  are 
the  Radicals  of  the  South,  and  my  friend  from  Wis- 
consin, after  all,  is  acting  with  that  Radical  party. 
The  burden  of  his  speech  yesterday  was  that  the  re- 
construction measures  of  Congress  are  intended  to 
establish  negro  supremacy.  Sir,  this  proposition  is 
without  any  foundation  whatever.  I  believe  it  was 
stated  yesterday  by  the  Senator  from  Illinois  (Mr. 
Trumbull)  that  in  every  State  but  two,  the  white  vo- 
ters registered  outnumbered  the  colored  voters ;  and 
the  fact  that  in  two  States  the  colored  voters  out- 
numbered the  white  voters,  is  owing  to  the  simple 
accident  that  there  are  more  colored  men  in  those 
States  than  there  are  white  men.  Congress  has  not 
sought  to  establish  negro  supremacy,  nor  has  it 
sought  to  establish  the  supremacy  of  any  class  or 
party  of  men.  If  it  had  sought  to  establish  negro 
supremacy,  it  would  have  been  an  easy  matter  by 
excluding  from  the  right  of  suffrage  all  men  who 
had  been  concerned  in  the  Rebellion,  in  accordance 
with  the  proposition  of  the  distinguished  Senator 
from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Sumner)  in  his  speech  at 
Worcester,  in  1865.  He  proposed  to  exclude  all 
men  who  had  been  concerned  in  the  Rebellion,  and 
confer  suffrage  only  on  those  who  were  left.  That 
would  have  established  negro  supremacy  by  giving 
the  negroes  an  overwhelming  majority  in  every 
State  ;  and  if  that  had  been  the  object  of  Congress 
it  would  have  been  readily  done.  But,  Sir,  Congress 
has  only  sought  to  divide  the  political  power  between 
the  loyal  and  the  disloyal.  It  has  disfranchised 
some  50,000  disloyal  leaders,  leaving  all  the  rest  of 
the  people  to  vote.  They  have  been  enfranchised 
on  both  sides,  and  neither  should  be  placed  in  the 
power  of  the  other.  The  Rebels  have  the  right  to 
vote  so  that  they  shall  not  be  under  the  control  and 
power  of  the  Union  men  only,  and  the  Union  men 
have  been  allowed  to  vote  so  that  they  shall  not  be 
under  the  control  and  power  of  the  Rebels.  This  is 
the  policy,  to  divide  the  political  power  among  those 
men  for  the  protection  of  each.  Sir,  the  charge 
that  we  intend  to  create  a  negro  supremacy  or  col- 


ored State  governments  is  without  the  slightest 
foundation,  for  it  would  have  been  in  the  power  of 
Congress  to  have  easily  conferred  such  supremacy 
by  simply  excluding  the  disloyal  from  the  right  of 
suffrage — a  power  which  it  had  the  clear  right  to 
exercise.  Now,  Mr.  President,  allow  me  to  consid- 
er for  a  moment  the  amendment  offered  by  the  Sena- 
tor from  Wisconsin,  and  upon  which  his  speech  was 
made,  and  see  what  is  its  effect  —  I  will  not  say  its 
purpose,  but  its  inevitable  effect  —  should  it  become 
a  law.  I  will  ask  the  Secretary  to  read  the  amend- 
ment which  the  Senator  from  AVisconsin  has  pro- 
posed- to  the  Senate.  [The  Secretary  read  as  fol- 
lows :] 

Provided,  nevertheless,  That  upon  an  election  for  the- 
ratification  of  any  constitution,  or  of  officers  under  the 
same,  previous  to  its  adoption  in  any  State,  no  person  not 
having  the  qualifications  of  an  elector  under  the  constitu- 
tion and  laws  of  such  State  previous  to  the  late  Rebel- 
lion shall  be  allowed  to  vote,  unless  he  shall  possess  one 
of  the  following  qualifications,  namely  : 

1.  He  shall  have  served  as  a  soldier  in  the  Federal 
Army  for  one  year  or  more. 

2.  He  shall  have  sufficient  education  to  read  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  and  to  subscribe  his  name 
to  an  oath  to  support  the  same  ;  or, 

3.  He    shall    be  seized   in  his   own  right,    or  in  the 
right  of  his  wife,  of  a  freehold  of  the  value  of  $250. 

Sir,  these  qualifications  are,  by  the  terms  of  the 
amendment,  to  apply  to  those  who  were  not  author- 
ized to  vote  by  the  laws  of  the  State  before  the 
Rebellion — in  other  words,  the  colored  men.  He 
proposes  to  allow  a  colored  man  to  vote  if  he  haa 
been  in  the  Federal  army  one  year,  and  he  proposes 
to  allow  a  Rebel  white  man  to  vote,  although  he 
has  served  in  the  Rebel  army  four  years  !  He  pro- 
poses that  a  colored  man  shall  not  vote  unless  he 
has  sufficient  education  to  read  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  and  to  subscribe  his  name  to  au 
oath  to  support  the  same,  whereas  he  permits  a 
Rebel  white  man  to  vote  who  never  heard  of  A, 
and  does  not  know  how  to  make  his  mark  even  to  a 
note  given  for  whiskey.  [Laughter.]  Again,  Sir, 
he  proposes  that  the  colored  man  shall  not  vote 
unless  he  shall  be  seized  in  his  own  right,  or  in  the 
right  of  his  wife,  of  a  freehold  of  the  value  of  §250, 
a  provision  which,  of  course,  would  cut  off  999  out 
of  every  1,000  colored  men  in  the  South.  The 
colored  man  cannot  vote  unless  he  has  a  freehold  of 
$250,  but  the  white  Rebel,  who  was  never  worth 
25  cents,  who  never  paid  a  poll-tax  in  his  life,  never 
paid  an  honest  debt,  is  to  be  allowed  to  vote.  Sir, 
what  would  be  the  inevitable  effect  of  the  adoption 
of  this  amendment  ?  To  cut  off  such  a  large  part 
of  the  colored  vote  as  to  leave  the  Rebel  white  vote 
largely  in  the  ascendancy,  and  to  put  these  new 


Senator  Morton  on  Reconstruction. 


11 


State  governments  there  to  be  formed  again  into  I 
the  hands  of  the  Rebels.  Sir,  I  will  not  spend  I 
longer  time  npon  that.  My  friend  yesterday 
alluded  to  my  indorsement  of  the  President's  policy 
in  a  speech  in  1865.  I  never  indorsed  what  is  now 
called  the  President's  policy.  In  the  Summer  of 
1865,  when  I  saw  a  division  coming  between  the 
President  and  the  Republican  party,  and  when  I 
could  not  help  anticipating  the  direful  consequences 
that  must  result  from  it,  I  made  a  speech  in  which  I 
repelled  certain  statements  that  had  been  made 
against  the  President,  and  denied  the  charge  that 
by  issuing  his  proclamation  of  May  29th,  1865,  he 
had  thereby  left  the  Republican  party.  I  said  that 
he  had  not  left  the  Republican  party  by  that  act.  I 
did  show  that  the  policy  of  that  proclamation  was 
even  more  radical  than  that  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  I  did 
show  that  it  was  more  radical  even  than  the 
Winter-Davis  bill  of  the  Summer  of  1864.  But, 
Sir,  it  was  all  upon  the  distinct  understanding  that 
whatever  the  President  did,  his  whole  policy  or 
action  was  to  be  submitted  to  Congress  for  its  con- 
sideration and  decision  ;  and,  as  I  before  remarked, 
if  that  had  been  done  all  would  have  been  well.  I 
did  not  then  advocate  universal  colored  suffrage  in 
the  South,  and  I  have  before  given  my  reasons  for 
it,  and  in  doing  that  I  was  acting  in  harmony  with 
the  great  body  of  the  Republican  party  of  the 
Xorth.  t  was  nearly  a  year  after  that  time  when 
Congress  passed  the  Constitutional  Amendment, 
which  still  left  the  question  of  suffrage  with  the 
Southern  States — left  it  with  the  white  people ;  and 
it  was  not  until  a  year  and  a  half  after  that  time 
that  Congress  came  to  the  conclusion  that  we  could 
not  execute  the  guarantee  of  the  Constitution 
without  raising  up  a  new  class  of  loyal  voters. 
And,  Sir,  nobody  concurred  in  that  result  more 
heartily  than  myself.  I  confess  (and  I  do  it  without 
shame)  that  I  have  been  educated  by  the  great 
events  of  this  war.  The  American  people  have 
been  educated  rapidly  ;  and  the  man  who  says  he 
has  learned  nothing,  that  he  stands  now  where  he 
did  six  years  ago,  is  like  an  ancient  mile-post  by 
the  side  of  a  deserted  highway.  We,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, have  advanced  step  by  step.  When  this  War 
began  we  did  not  contemplate  the  destruction  of 
Slavery.  I  remember  well  when  the  Crittenden 
resolution  was  passed,  declaring  that  the  war  was 
not  prosecuted  for  conquest  or  to  overturn  the  insti- 
tutions of  any  State.  I  know  that  that  was  in- 
tended as  an  assurance  that  Slavery  should  not  be 
destroyed,  and  it  received  the  vote,  I  believe,  of 
every  Republican  member  of  both  Houses  of  Con- 
gress ;  but  in  a  few  mouths  after  that  time  it  was 


found  by  the  events  of  the  war  that  we  could  not 
preserve  Slavery  and  suppress  the  Rebellion,  and 
we  must  destroy  Slavery — not  prosecute  the  war  to 
destroy  Slavery — but  destroy  Slavery  to  prosecute 
the  war.  Which  was  the  better?  To  stand  by 
the  resolution  and  let  the  Union  go,  or  to  stand  by 
the  Union  and  let  the  resolution  go  ?  Congress 
could  not  stand  by  that  pledge,  and  it  was  "  more 
honored  in  the  breach  than  in  the  observance." 
Mr.  Lincoln  issued  his  proclamation  of  emancipa- 
tion, setting  free  the  slaves  of  Rebels.  It  was  dic- 
tated by  the  stern  and  bloody  experience  of  the 
times.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  no  choice  left  him.  When 
he  began  this  contest  no  one  thought  he  would 
use  colored  soldiers  in  the  war.  The  distinguished 
Senator  sitting  by  me  here,  (Mr.  Cameron)  when 
in  the  Winter  of  1861  he  first  brought  forward  the 
proposition,  as  Secretary  of  War,  to  use  colored 
soldiers,  was  greatly  in  advance  of  public  opinion, 
and  was  thought  to  be  visionary ;  but  as  the  war 
progressed  it  became  manifest  to  all  intelligent 
men  that  we  must  not  only  destroy  Slavery,  but  we 
must  avail  ourselves  of  every  instrumentality  in 
our  power  for  the  purpose  of  putting  down  the  Re- 
bellion, and  the  whole  country  accorded  in  the  use 
of  colored  soldiers — and  gallant  and  glorious  serv- 
ice they  rendered. 

In  1864  a  proposition  was  brought  forward  in 
this  body  to  amend  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  by  abolishing  Slavery.  We  do  not  think 
that  is  very  radical  now,  but  it  was  very  radical 
then ;  it  was  the  great  measure  of  the  age,  and 
almost  of  modern  times,  and  it  was  finally  passed  ; 
an  amendment  setting  free  every  human  being 
within  the  limits  of  the  United  States.  But,  Sir, 
we  were  very  far  then  from  where  we  are  now.  All 
will  remember  the  celebrated  Winter-Davis  bill, 
passed  in  June,  1864,  which  took  the  power  of  recon- 
struction out  of  the  hands  of  the  President,  where  it 
did  not  in  fact  belong.  I  refer  to  Mr.  Lincoln  ;  but 
if  that  bill  had  passed  it  would  perhaps  have 
resulted  in  the  destruction  of  this  Government.  We 
can  all  see  it  now,  although  it  was  then  thought  to 
be  the  most  radical  measure  of  the  times.  What 
did  it  propose  ?  It  proposed  to  prescribe  a  plan, 
to  take  effect  when  the  war  should  end,  by  which 
these  Rebel  States  should  be  restored.  I  refer  to 
that  bill  simply  to  show  how  we  have  all  traveled. 
It  required  but  one  condition  or  guarantee  on  the 
part  of  the  South,,and  that  was  that  they  should 
put  in  their  constitutions  a  provision  prohibiting 
Slavery.  It  required  no  other  guarantee.  It  re- 
quired no  equalization  of  representation  ;  no  secur- 
ity against  Rebel  debts,  or  against  payment  /or 


12 


Senator  Motion  on  Reconstruction. 


emancipated  slaves ;  and  it  confined  the  right  of 
suffrage  to  white  men.  But  it  was  thought  to  be  a 
great  step  in  advance  at  the  time  ;  and  so  it  was  ; 
but  events  were  passing  rapidly,  and  in  1865  the 
President  came  forward  with  his  proposition,  and  I 
am  stating  what  is  true  from  an  examination  of  the 
documents  when  I  say  that  but  for  the  want  of 
power  with  the  President,  his  scheme  in  itself  con- 
sidered was  far  more  radical  than  that  of  the  Win- 
ter-Davis bill ;  but  events  were  rapidly  teaching 
the  statesmen  of  the  time  that  we  could  not  recon- 
struct upon  that  basis.  Still,  Congress  was  not 
prepared  to  take  a  forward  step  until  the  Summer 
of  1866,  in  the  passage  of  the  Constitutional  Amend- 
ment, which  we  now  regard  as  a  half-way  measure, 
necessary  and  vital  as  far  as  it  went,  but  not  going 
far  enough.  That  was  rejected,  and  we  were  then 
compelled  to  go  further,  and  we  have  now  fallen 
upon  the  plan  of  reconstruction  which  I  have  been 
considering.  It  has  been  dictated  by  the  logic  of 
events.  It  overrides  all  arguments,  overrides  all 
prejudices,  overrides  all  theory,  in  the  presence  of 
the  necessity  for  preserving  the  life  of  this  nation  ; 
and  if  future  events  determine  that  we  must  go  fur- 
ther, I  for  one  am  prepared  to  say  that  I  will  go  as 
far  as  shall  be  necessary  to  the  execution  of  this 
guarantee,  the  reconstruction  of  this  Eepublic  upon 
a  right  basis,  and  the  successful  restoration  of  every 
part  of  this  Union.  Mr.  President,  the  colnmn  of 
reconstruction,  as  I  before  remarked,  has  risen 
slowly.  It  has  not  been  hewn  from  a  single  stone. 
It  is  composed  of  many  blocks,  painfully  laid  up 
and  put  together,  and  cemented  by  the  tears  and 
blood  of  the  nation.  Sir,  we  have  done  nothing 
arbitrarily.  We  have  done  nothing  for  punishment 
— aye,  too  little  for  punishment.  Justice  has  not 
had  her  demand.  Not  a  man  has  yet  been  executed 
for  this  great  treason.  The  arch  fiend  himself  is 
now  at  liberty  upon  bail.  No  man  is  to  be  pun- 
ished ;  and  now,  while  punishment  has  gone  by,  as 


we  all  know,  we  are  insisting  only  upon  security  for 
the  future.  We  are  simply  asking  that  the  evil 
spirits  who  brought  this  war  upon  us  shall  not 
again  come  into  power  during  this  generation,  again 
to  bring  upon  us  rebellion  and  calamity.  We  are 
simply  asking  for  those  securities  that  we  deem 
necessary  for  our  peace  and  the  peace  of  our  poster- 
ity. Sir,  there  is  one  great  difference  between  this 
Union  party  and  the  so-called  Democratic  party. 
Our  principles  are  those  of  humanity ;  they  are 
those  of  justice ;  they  are  those  of  equal  rights ; 
they  are  principles  that  appeal  to  the  hearts  and  the 
consciences  of  men  ;  while  on  the  other  side  we 
hear  appeals  to  the  prejudice  of  race  against  race. 
The  white  man  is  overwhelmingly  in  the  majority  in 
this  country,  and  that  majority  is  yearly  increased 
by  half  a  million  of  white  men  from  abroad,  and 
is  gaining  in  proportion  from  year  to  year  until  the 
colored  men  will  finally  be  but  a  handful  in  this 
country ;  and  yet  we  hear  the  prejudices  of  the 
white  race  appealed  to  to  crush  this  other  race,  and 
to  prevent  it  from  rising  to  supremacy  and  power. 
Sir,  there  is  nothing  noble,  there  is  nothing  gener- 
ous, there  is  nothing  lovely  in  that  policy  or  that 
appeal.  How  does  that  principle  compare  with 
ours  ?  We  are  standing  upon  the  broad  platform 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  that  "  all  men 
are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights ;  that  among 
these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happinnss." 
We  say  that  these  rights  are  not  given  by  laws ;  are 
not  given  by  the  Constitution ;  but  they  are  the 
gift  of  God  to  every  man  born  into  the  world.  Oh, 
Sir,  how  glorious  is  this  great  principle  compared 
with  the  inhuman — I  might  say  heathenish — appeal 
to  the  prejudice  of  race  against  race ;  the  endeavor 
further  to  excite  the  strong  against  the  weak  ;  the 
endeavor  further  to  deprive  the  weak  of  their  right 
of  protection  against  the  strong ! 


Republican  State  Central  Committee, 


JAMES    OTIS Chairman. 

ALFRED*   BARSTOW Secretary. 

ALPHEUS    BULL • Treasurer. 


San  Francisco. 

JAMES    OTIS,  A.    SELIGMAN. 

ALFRED    BARSTOW,  E.    N.    TORRFVT, 

ALPHEUS    BULL,  JACOB    DEETH. 

Alameda. 
I.    A.    AMMERMAN. 

Sacramento. 
J.   O.   McCALLUM. 

Santa  Clara. 
CHARLES    G.   THOMAS. 


14 


Alameda Samuel  Merritt Oakland. 

Alpine Robert    Patterson Silver  Mountain. 

Araador J.   R.    Ilardenbergh Jackson. 

Butte W.   S.  Safford Ooville. 

Calaver&s T.    K.  Wilson San  Andreas. 

Coltisa J.    G.   Tread  way'. Colusa. 

Contra    Costa O.    P.    Loucks Pacheco. 

Del   Norte W.  H.  Woodbnry Crescent  City 

El    Dorado S.  J.    Ensmiriger Plaeerville. 

Fresno George   Grierson Millerton. 

Humboldt W.   F.    Heustis Eureka. 

Inyo F.  K.  Miller Independence. 

Kern J.    C.    Birdseye Havilali. 

Klamath John    F.    Martin Martin's  Ferry 

Lake J.  S.   Dowries Lakepqrt. 

Lassen John    S.    Ward Susan ville. 

Los  Angeles A.  N.   Merritt Los  Angeles 

Marin    Bradley  Hall San  Rafael. 

Mariposa J.  D.  Crippen Mariposa. 

Mendocino R.   McGarvey Ukiah   City. 

Merced H.   A.    Skelton Snelling's. 

Mono S.   G.  Sneeden Bridgeport. 

Monterey .  .  .  B.  Flint San  Juan,  South. 

Napa J.   M.    Coghlan Napa. 

Nevada E.  W.   Roberts Grass  Valley. 

Placer J.   C.    Boggs Auburn. 

Piumas J.   R.   Buckbee Quincy. 

Sacramento F.  A.  Gibbs Sacramento. 

San    Francisco H.   S.  Brown San   Francisco. 

Santa  Cruz W.    F.   Cooper.  .    Santa  Cruz. 

Shasta J.  N.  Chappell Shasta. 

San  Joaquin  .  . J.   M.   Helsey Stockton. 

San   Luis   Obispo C.  Mathers San  Luis  Obispo. 

San    Mateo J.  W.  Ackerson Redwood  City. 

Santa    Barbara C.    E.    Huse Santa  Barbara. 

Santa    Clara F.    Sleeper Mountain  View. 

Stanislaus A.    Schell Knight's  Ferry. 

Sutler J.  L.  Wilbur Yuba  City. 

Sierra W.   T.    Luther Downieville. 

Siskiyou C.  H.  Pyle Yreka. 

Solano 0.  B.  Powers Suisun. 

Sonoma .A.  Morse Petaluma. 

Tehama . . N.  Merrill .  Red   Bluff. 

Trinity D.  E.   Gordon Weaverville. 

Tuolumne D.  N.  KennVld Sonora. 

Tulare A.  O.  Thorn Visalia. 

Yolo J.  A.  Hutton Cacheville. 

Yuba  .  .  .  A.  S.  Smith  ... Marvsville. 


RESOLUTIONS 

Adopted  by  the  Union  Republican  State  Convention,  held  at  Sacramento,  March 

31««,  1868. 


Resolved,  That  the  loyal  musses  of  California  are  | 
unalterably  attached  to  the  imperishable  principles  | 
of  the  Union  Republican  party  ;  that  its  history  is 
the  history  of  progress,  of  the  advancement  of  civil, 
individual  and  national  liberty,  of  the  war  against 
rebellion,  of  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  of  the 
delivery  of  four  millions  of  people  from  bondage, 
and  that  its  great  mission  will  never  end  until  the 
union  of  all  the  States  shall  be  established  on  a 
foundation  of  justice  and  right,  never  again  to  be 
shaken,  either  by  traitors  at  home  or  by  their  allies 
abroad. 

Resolved,  That  the  Constitution  devolves  upon 
the  Executive  the  duty  to  see  that  the  laws  are 
faithfully  executed,  and  that  when  any  law  is  enacted 
in  conformity  with  the  prescribed  constitutional 
forms,  the  Executive  is  bound  to  execute  the  same. 

Resolved,  That  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United  States  is  entitled  to  the  gratitude  and 
thanks  of  the  nation  for  its  action  in  preferring  arti- 
cles of  impeachment  against  Andrew  Johnson  ;  that 
his  flagrant  disregard  of  a  positive  enactment  of 
Congress,  in  the  removal  of  the  Secretary  of  War 
in  direct  violation  of  an  express  provision  forbidding 
such  an  act.  was  of  itself  a  high  crime,  and  which 
added  to  the  long  series  of  his  gross*  misdemeanors, 
would,  if  suffered  to  go  unrebuked,  subordinate  all 
the  other  powers  of  Government  to  the  despotic 
will  of  the  Executive,  and  would  end  in  the  subver- 
sion of  the  Constitution,  and  the  final  destruction  of 
representative  government. 

Resolved,  That  the  loyal  masses  of  California, 
with  one  voice,  approve  of  and  pledge  themselves  to 
sustain  all  the  reconstruction  measures  of  Congress  ; 
that  in  carrying  out  the  principles  involved  in  those 
measures  Congress  is  only  executing  that  provision 
of  the  Constitution  which  devolves  upon  the  United 
States  the  obligation  to  guarantee  to  every  State  in 
the  Union  a  republican  form  of  government. 

Resolved,  That  we  have  the  most  implicit  confi- 


dence in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  before 
which  august  tribunal  the  highest  officer  known  to 
the  Constitution  and  laws  is  now  arraigned  and  on 
his  trial ;  that  they  will  fairly  and  impartially  dis- 
charge the  solemn  duty  imposed  upon  them  accord- 
ing to  the  law  and  evidence,  and  they  will,  by  their 
decision  and  judgment  maintain  and  vindicate  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws  of  their  country,  uninflu- 
enced either  by  political  or  personal  considerations. 

Resolved,  That  we  are  in  favor  of  the  strictest 
economy  in  the  administration  of  our  National,  State 
and  County  affairs ;  of  reducing  public  taxation  at 
once  to  the  lowest  limit  allowable  by  the  require- 
ments of  our  public  obligations. 

Resolved,  That  the  payment  of  the  public  debt, 
and  in  which  is  involved  the  national  honor,  is  a 
cardinal  point  in  our  political  faith  ;  that  repudia- 
tion would  be  an  abandonment  of  the  principles 
upon  which  the  war  for  the  Union  was  fought ;  a 
concession  that  the  Union  was  not  worth  defending  ; 
a  breach  of  the  public  faith  ;  a  violation  of  plighted 
honor,  and  a  crime  against  the  loyal  dead,  who  gave 
their  lives  on  the  battle-field  in  defense  of  the  great 
cause  for  which  it  was  incurred. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  bounden  duty  of  the 
National  Government,  under  all  circumstances  and 
at  all  hazards,  so  to  use  the  national  power  in  its 
fullest  extent,  without  hesitation  and  without  delay, 
that  the  rights  of  every  American  citizen,  native 
born  and  naturalized,  shall  be  fully  protected  at 
home  and  abroad  ;  and  especially  that  no  foreign 
nation  should  be  permitted  to  arrest  and  punish  any 
American  citizen  for  any  offense  committed  upon 
our  own  soil. 

Resolved,  That  in  Ulysses  S.  Grant — the  hero, 
the  patriot  and  the  statesman — we  recognize  the 
representative  man  of  the  times ;  one  in  whose 
keeping  the  destiny  and  honor  of  the  nation  will 
ever  be  safe,  and  therefore  we  name  him  as  our  unani- 
mous choice  for  President  of  the  United  States. 


